Chapter 12

The moon was full, and hung in the sky like a huge silver ball, glowing and casting it's light on the people below. Luckily, the light was bright enough Olivia could see the stairs up to the loft quite clearly. She stayed close to the wall of the building, making sure not to rely on the rickety banister for support. She slowly and carefully made her way up to the loft. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she could feel her blood running cold in her veins. Maybe this isn't such a good idea... Olivia thought, I should go wake up Toby... I shouldn't do this alone... But still she moved on, her athame clutched in her right hand. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally reached the door. She tried peering inside, but she couldn't see anything- the windows were much too dirty. Suddenly, she saw a red light zip past her and through the door into the loft. Olivia gasped, not sure of what happened. She could then hear a groaning sound coming from beneath her feet. Soon the groaning was accompanied by snapping, splintering sounds, so she looked below her. The platform that connected the stairs to the upper door was breaking and was about to fall out from under her. Before she could think it through, she opened the door and jumped into the room before the floor that was holding her could collapse. Luckily, only two boards had broken completely through, while three others were seriously splintered. Had she not gotten off, she could have fallen to the ground past the splinters with the two jagged boards- And who knows what could have happened once she hit the ground.

She then heard movement in the room and was snapped back into reality and out of her thoughts. She looked to her left and saw a figure standing under the huge windows she had seen from the outside before. He was wearing dark clothing, and had dark hair, and dark circles around his eyes; which were also dark. His skin, however, was so pale it glowed in the moonlight that poured through the dust on the windows. He didn't even seem to notice she was there, rather, he kept fidgeting with something in his hands as he gazed out the window.

"Who are you?!" Olivia shouted, feeling more and more afraid with ever second that flew by. "Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

"I knew you would come here..." He said quietly, in a dark, smooth voice. Olivia felt her heart stop beating. His voice was so familiar... In fact he sounded just like...

"I said, who are you..." Olivia said growled, gripping her athame tighter. He turned to face her, and as he did, he flicked whatever it was he was fidgeting with earlier. A barber's razor seemed to appear with a quick silver flash. Olivia raised her athame in defense and began to back away toward the door.

The man just gave a wicked smirk. "No need to run off, Olivia... I've been wanting to lay eyes on you properly for years..."

Olivia started to tremble in fear as he moved closer. "Stay back!" She warned. He stopped dead in his tracks and didn't move any closer. "Don't worry. I can't," he said, folding his razor back up and slipping it in his pocket. "I can't come near you while you have your knife with you... Please, set it down. I just want to see you- I swear, I won't hurt you."

"How do you know my name?" Olivia asked, her voice shaking just as much as she was.

"Oh, I think you know, Olivia," he said. "Now, put down the knife-"

"How do I know can I trust you?" Olivia demanded.

"I haven't hurt you in the past seventeen years of your life, have I?" He asked, starting to sound a little irritated.

Olivia gasped- this was her guardian! The closer she looked at him, she could indeed make out a slight red outline of color around him, just like Mrs. Jenkins taught her to. She stared at him, feeling almost completely spellbound by him. His eyes glistened oddly in the darkness- almost like they weren't natural. She then noticed a singular white shock of hair amidst the black of his hair.

"Olivia," He continued coaxing, "I have seen you grow from the time you were but an infant... Please, trust me..."

She looked at the athame in her hand, and back at the man who stood before her. For whatever reason, she felt unafraid of him- she felt that he was who he clamed to be, and she could believe him. Slowly, she set the athame on a small, dusty table that stood near her.

He smiled darkly as she set down her tool. "That's my girl..." he said. He then moved close to her, and lifted a lock of her straight golden hair. His hand slightly brushed her cheek and she gasped- it felt as if she had been touched by a winter breeze. He ignored her reaction and continued to play with her hair as he inspected her face, and gazed into her pale, gray eyes. "Very beautiful..." He said simply.

"What is your name...?" Olivia asked him, still enamored with the man standing before her, "I never knew your name..."

She cracked another wicked grin. "Sweeney.... Sweeney Todd... And I've been waiting for you for a long time..."

It was so dark Johanna could barely see her hand in front of her face, but ahead of her, there was pale light. She tried to move toward it, but her legs were heavy as lead and it was very difficult to make them respond. After what seemed like forever, she drew closer to the lighted area. There stood Olivia and that man. Johanna wanted to scream to her daughter and tell her to get away from him, but no matter how she tried, nothing would come out of her mouth. All she could do was watch as he took a strand of her hair in his fingers. He saw Olivia jump slightly at his touch, and Johanna wanted to reach out and pull her daughter away from his grasp. She then heard her daughter's quiet, dreamy voice say, "What is your name...? I never knew your name..."

Olivia! Olivia, get away! Olivia! Olivia! Johanna's mind screamed.

"Sweeney... Sweeney Todd," she heard the man say with a treacherous smile, "And I've been waiting for you for a long time..."

"NO!" Johanna finally managed to croak out. Suddenly, the scene in front of her froze. Behind her, she heard a baby cry. She spun around to see Mrs. Jenkins, the midwife who had delivered Olivia, standing behind her with a baby in her arms, also looking at the scene before them. "Well, I never expected this..." She said, moving to stand beside Johanna. "I never thought that he would actually do this..."

"What?" Johanna asked, confused as to what was being said.

"He's gaining strength, Dearie," Mrs. Jenkins answered cryptically, "and I don't like what he's up to..."

"What's he doing with Olivia?!" Johanna yelled, suddenly aware that the dream-Jenkins knew something.

"He protected her for all of these years, and now he's going to use her to get what he wants," Mrs. Jenkins explained.

"But Olivia would never help someone like him! Never!" Johanna said, feeling confident.

"She would- with perfect love and perfect trust..."

"What does that mean?!" Johanna asked, getting more and more angry. "Why am I seeing this?!"

Mrs. Jenkins smiled at her. "I can't help her anymore- I've gone to the Summerland," she said, "But you have to help her. Your the only one who can. Otherwise..." She trailed off, looking at the baby in her arms. She pulled the blanket that wrapped it away from it's face to reveal it was a baby Olivia. Only she had ebony black hair, and bright red eyes. Johanna looked back to the older Olivia in front of her to see that 'Sweeney' had disappeared and Olivia was the only one there. Her hair flowed like a black river, here eyes glowed red, and her clothes were covered with blood.

"No..." Johanna gasped, covering her mouth, "No...! No!"

"No!!" She cried, sitting up in bed, sweat on her brow. "Johanna!" Anthony gasped, springing up beside his wife. "Not these dreams again!"

"Anthony... We have to go to London..." Johanna whispered, still breathing heavily.

"What?" He asked, surprised by his wife's statement.

"We need to find her... I think I know where she is... We need to go there!"

"Johanna, we've been to London- many times," Anthony said, already knowing who his wife was talking about. "And we haven't found her. Not even a slight lead in five years. Five years, Johanna... It's time to move on..." This had been a sore subject for many years now, and it never got easier to deal with, although Johanna's dreams had lessened after the first year. However, whatever she had seen tonight had really shaken her.

"Anthony..." Johanna said, still breathing hard, "What I saw tonight... The Midwife- Jenkins. She was in my dream. She said something about Olivia being used by him."

"Him?" Anthony asked, surprised, "You mean Todd?! Johanna, he's been dead for years! You saw it yourself in the newspapers! It's one of the biggest scandals England has ever seen!"

"I know all that," Johanna said, getting irritated, "But we must go!"

"Johanna, enough-" Anthony said, losing his own patience, "no go back to bed..." With that, he laid back down and rolled over, his back to her.

She slowly laid down herself. She stared out of the bedroom window at the moon that seemed to hang just outside of it. There was a red hue over it. Blood on the moon, she called it. She felt a tear run down her cheek. She knew that what she had seen in her dream was real- it just had to be. I'm coming Olivia... Even if it's alone, I'm coming... She thought as she fell asleep again.